1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a banknote processing apparatus that individually separates accumulated banknotes and then takes them in.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-092331, filed Apr. 13, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there exist sheet paper separating and transporting apparatuses that individually separate sheet paper such as a large quantity of banknotes and perform processing to take them into the apparatus body. A sheet paper separating and transporting apparatus which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. H06-69857 (see, FIGS. 1, 2, and 8) forms a continuous gap between accumulated paper sheets, and greatly reduces the friction resistance between the paper sheets which is generated by the weight of the paper sheets themselves, so that the paper sheets can be consistently separated and transported one by one.
In the aforementioned sheet paper separating and transporting apparatus includes a storage section, a feed section, a supporting section, separating and transporting section, and a drive force transmission section. The storage section accumulates and stores paper sheets. The feed section feeds out the paper sheets accumulated and stored in the storage section in sequence from the sheet located at the bottom. The supporting section supports the paper sheets on an upstream side in the feed direction of the paper sheets accumulated and stored in the storage section. The separating and transporting section is located on the downstream side in the feed direction from the feed section, and sequentially separates and transports individually the sheets of paper fed by the feed section. The drive force transmission section transmits drive force from the separating and transporting section to the supporting section. The supporting section provides rotation in the feed direction of the paper sheets via the drive force transmission section. For each section, the length in the feed direction of the sheet paper itself is defined as LP, a distance between a position slightly on the upstream side in the feed direction from a separating action portion of the separating section and an end portion on the downstream side in the feed direction of the supporting section is defined as LF, and a distance between a side surface on the downstream side in the feed direction of the storage section and the end portion on the downstream side in the feed direction of the supporting section is defined as LH. In this case, in the sheet paper separating and transporting apparatus, the respective sections are arranged such that LP<LF and such that LH<LP.
In an apparatus that is constructed in this manner, a continuous gap is formed between accumulated paper sheets, and the friction resistance between the paper sheets which is generated by the weight of the paper sheets themselves is greatly reduced, so that the paper sheets can be separated and transported one by one with consistency.
Furthermore, according to an example in which a plurality of projections are provided on an outer circumferential side of supporting feed rollers which are serving as supporting feed portions for the paper sheets, by driving a rotation shaft, vibration is imparted to the opposite side from the sheet paper discharge side so that friction resistance between the paper sheets is lessened.
However, the supporting feed rollers which serve as sheet paper supporting feed portions extend in an orthogonal direction relative to the sheet paper feed direction and are arranged in the form of a single roller. Moreover, due to the shape of the supporting feed rollers, when vibration is imparted to the opposite side from the sheet paper discharge side, there is a possibility of noise being generated at the same time.